Book: Partials by Dan Wells

Genre: YA, Dystopian

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. But sixteen-year-old Kira is determined to find a solution. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that that the survival of both humans and Partials rests in her attempts to answer questions about the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

I’m not sure if it’s just my particular reading habits, or if there really is such a lack of books written by men in the YA genre, but one way or another, this book illuminated the void–whether in the genre or in my own reading habits.

It’s no secret that books in the dystopian genre have all but taken over the YA genre.  From the Hunger Games to Divergent to The Selection and on…  Now, I’ve enjoyed all those books, but they all have elements that are the same and that wears on you after a while.  The Teenage Love Triangle for example.  I don’t know how many times I can say it, but Dear God in Heaven I am TIRED of love triangles.  Just make up your minds already!  Seriously!  Nobody has time for all that!  Ha!

I promise, that whole tirade was related to this book.  Notably, because there wasn’t a love triangle in Partials.  In fact, even though there were some obviously romantic connections, it really focused more on the action and the plot than the relationships. If you’ve read a lot of YA fiction, you know that is a pretty noticeable difference.  Kira is a really strong female character, and she’s surrounded by a great supporting cast.

The whole idea behind Partials was a unique story idea to me too.  Oddly enough, it made me think of a twist on the zombie stories.  Kind of strange, but definitely unique.

As a general rule, if a book is part of a trilogy, I try to read the entire trilogy before reviewing it, but I’ve made an exception for this series.  Currently reading the second book, but I thought Partials was so notable that it was really worth mentioning early.

If you’ve enjoyed other dystopian YA books, I recommend giving this series a try! I’ve really enjoyed it.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars